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Boston’s Green Agenda and an Invitation to Local Global Climate Change Summits

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  • Creating an Environmental Science Academy within Boston Public Schools.  This proposal will not impact this year’s school budget and it will take more than a few years to develop, but I think we need a big vision for our children’s future and every citizen’s environmental education.  I envision an innovative public school open to all students with a rigorous green curriculum that focuses on developing math, science and trades skills that will both prepare students to compete in the green economy and create more responsible citizens who are environmentally literate and practice sustainable lifestyles.    

  • Convening Local Summits to focus on Local and Individual Strategies to Combat Global Climate Change.  The goal of these summits will be to discuss and promote steps that individuals can take to reduce their impact on the environment.  I would like to invite all members of the BMG community to participate in these two summits which I have scheduled to take place around Earth Day – the first summit will be on April 21st at 6 PM at Building 114 in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and the second summit will be on April 23rd at 5:30 PM at The Great Hall in Codman Square, Dorchester.  Even if you can’t come to one of these summits, please post comments with any useful strategies that you have personally used to reduce your own impact on the environment and I will make some of them available on my website www.connollyforboston.com.    

  • Starting a Carbon Neutral Neighborhood pilot program, where the City will provide resources and support for local businesses that are willing to group together and pledge to reduce their “net” carbon footprint to zero.  My hope is that this will incentivize the greening of Boston’s local business districts in much the same way as the Main Streets Program has revitalized many of Boston’s neighborhood business districts.    

  • Continuing to push for more Sustainable Public Transportation.  In addition to continued work on the Shared-Bike program discussed above, I want to build on the commitment I got from the City in 2008 to triple the number of hybrid vehicles to be added to the City’s vehicle fleet.              

                  I realize that many of these goals are ambitious and long-term, but I don’t think we can afford to think small on the environment.  We all know that the more our government involves community leaders and activists, the better any policy initiative becomes, so I mean it – please give me your comments, advice, stories, proposals, etc.  I welcome all of them.  If you’d like to learn more about these proposals, you can view a video of my introduction of the Green Agenda  to the City Council and visit my website www.connollyforboston.com for more details.  Thanks, and I look forward to your comments.

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    • Comments

    1. I want to build on the commitment I got from the City in 2008 to triple the number of hybrid vehicles to be added to the City’s vehicle fleet.

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      p>Councillor Connolly, what vehicles are you talking about here? If you are talking about school buses, then I wonder, given your support for neighborhood schools, and given Superintendent Johnson’s proposal to increase the number of school zones from three to five, why a better answer isn’t simply to have fewer school buses.

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      p>Of course the city has other vehicles in the fleet, but since it costs the City $70 million to operate the school bus fleet, I am confident this must be the single largest element of the fleet.

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      p>That’s not to say that hybrid school buses aren’t a good idea on their own, but why spend the money in a tight budgetary climate where you could reduce emissions simply by decreasing the size of the fleet, and thereby advance another part of your agenda for the City?

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      p>TedF

    2. Connolly seems to be the most “green-friendly” voice in Boston these days, I hope he keeps it up.  

    3. Lets say you could just for a moment hypothetically consider the case that CO2 turns out to be effectively a non-issue for climate or anything else.  Would your green agenda still be green?

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      p>(Or, Bring on the denier-bashing!)

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      p>

    5. If Canadian geese,wild turkeys and grounghogs are “in season” or not.

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      p>Another problem is how best to relieve oneself not within the confines of the house you got evicted from.  Such things put you on the sexual offender list.

      <

      p>Lastly many prophets of the future tell us that bicycle tires should be bought now as there is a real shortage after the holocaust starts.

      <

      p>It’s a tax and it all goes to Bernie Madoff types.

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